About Wei Jia
Bio
WEI JIA (b. 1957, Beijing)
Wei Jia practiced traditional calligraphy, Chinese painting and poetry from an early stage. Wei graduated with a B.F.A from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing (1984) and M.F.A. from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania (1987). He currently works and lives in New York and Beijing. The feeling of cultural displacement and coexistence of cultural identities led him to measure the influences from Eastern and Western cultures in his work.
Handmade paper is widely used in traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy. Fascinated by its historical importance and relationship to nature and craft, Wei Jia uses handmade paper to make abstract collages. Wei Jia’s process involves a rigorously repeated cycle of tearing, mounting and painting, which leaves the artwork full of serendipitous combinations which cannot be replicated. The final work is made of layers of ink, pastel, gouache, oil and handmade paper, encouraging the viewer to have a close look at the exceptional medium and make a journey within the artwork. American critic Robert C. Morgan notes that: “The results often appear more solid and lyrically intriguing than paintings associated with American Color Field painting in the 1960s, largely due to the superior absorbent quality of the paper made from crushed mulberry leaves.”
Wei has had numerous solo and group exhibitions internationally, including Central Academy of Fines Arts (Beijing), National Museum of Art (Beijing), CU Art Museum University of Colorado at Boulder (Boulder, U.S.A.), Lincoln Center (New York), etc. Since 1987, he has had 16 solo exhibitions in the United States. His works are in the public collections of The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), Utah Museum (Salt Lake City), the Dadu Museum (Beijing) and the Brooklyn Museum (New York). His recent shows include Blurred Boundaries, New York School of Interior Design Gallery, New York(2018); Wei Jia: Recent Work, Schmidt/Dean Gallery, Philadelphia (2017); Lin Yan, Wei Jia: A Garden Window, Kwai Fung Hin Gallery, Hong Kong(2015); Oil & Water: Reinterpreting Ink, The Museum of Chinese in America, New York (2014) and Tales of Two Cities: New York & Beijing, Bruce Museum, Greenwich (2014). In 2018, He has first solo exhibition A Way of Life at Fou Gallery, New York. In 2021, he will hold his 17th solo exhibition Good Times both at Fou Gallery and Chambers Fine Art (New York).